SAN ANGELO COLTS: Team hopes to build back up slugfest

Greg Kendall-Ball/Reporter-News
Former Abilene Prairie Dogs left fielder Kyle Nichols will be playing for the San Angelo Colts this season. The Colts will feature a lot of new faces in 2013.

SAN ANGELO, Texas - If the new-look San Angelo Colts are going to lead the United League in home runs again in 2013, they’ll have to rely on a bunch of new faces to do it.

Heavy hitters Ronnie Gaines, Daryl Jones, Landon Camp and Cory Patton aren’t currently on the roster, meaning most of San Angelo’s home run power from 2012 has to be replaced.

San Angelo finished with a league-high 66 roundtrippers last season, with Camp leading the way with 14.

The Colts announced back in January that fan favorite Gaines (affectionately known around town as “The Mayor”) would be back for a seventh season with the team, but Gaines is not currently on the roster.

In 2012, the former Angelo State University standout hit .339 with nine home runs, 36 RBIs and 24 stolen bases in 71 games. His .339 average was the second-highest on the team and the sixth-best in the ULB.

Patton had a league-high 70 RBIs and 30 doubles, and Jones scored a league-high 77 runs.

The only hitter who has returned to the lineup from last year is infielder Danny Hernandez.

In order to make up for all of the offensive firepower that’s now gone, the Colts will have to rely on new additions such as first baseman Kyle Nichols, infielder Steve Rinaudo, outfielders Braden Embry and Mike Mobbs, and catcher Chris Caves.

New Colts hitting coach Mike Goss likes what he’s seen from his players as the season opener is just two days away.

“We’ve got a good group of guys,” Goss said. “We have a lot of young kids, but they’ve got a lot of baseball sense. They’ve played in high levels in college.

“And we’ve got a few veterans on our team like Kyle Nichols that we are asking to be our leaders and kind of mentor the young guys.”

Nichols played with the Abilene Prairie Dogs and Laredo Lemurs last season, and Goss has high expectations for him.

“He’s going to crush a lot of home runs for us and stuff like that,” Goss said.

Goss describes Embry as a “big, stocky kid” in his second year of pro baseball who can “swing the pole.”

Hernandez has already proven himself, and Goss expects to get a lot of offensive production out of him.

And he’s also counting on Rinaudo to send a lot of balls flying out of Foster Field this summer.

“He’s a guy from the Pecos League last year,” Goss said of the former Las Cruces Vaquero player. “He hit 18 home runs, so he can come in and give us some power.”

San Angelo made the playoffs for the sixth time in manager Doc Edwards’ seventh season in 2012. They were swept in two games by the Fort Worth Cats in the semifinals.

With a hitter-friendly park like Foster Field, the Colts always try to load their roster with home run hitters, and Goss said the fans can’t expect the same kind of offensive firepower again this summer.

“Doc, he loves the three-run home runs,” Goss said. “He loves the guys who can swing the pole and I’m a big fan of that. I love the same thing.

“In late innings, when you have guys that can swing the pole you have no worries.”

The season hasn’t even started yet, but Goss is confident all the new players will take up the slack of the ones who aren’t back.

“They listen and they want to get the job done and that’s all Doc asks for — just come out and play hard,” Goss said. “I’m just excited being here with Doc. Doc’s a great guy. He’s been around this game over 50 years.

“He’s been a good mentor for me the last 12 years, even though I was playing against him.”

The Colts will open the 2013 campaign Thursday when they travel to Harlingen to play the Rio Grande Valley WhiteWings. San Angelo’s home opener is scheduled for May 28, at 7:05 p.m., when the Colts will host the Edinburg Roadrunners.